Page 76 of Caged Bliss

“Stay right where you are.” I turn to address Emilio. “Make sure we have eyes on everyone coming and going from that place. Hold tight for now.”

Emilio glances at Davide for confirmation, which pisses me off, but at least my brother nods.

I brush past him and into the stairwell. My footsteps echo down concrete. Bottlecaps litter the stairs. An ancient empty beer bottle gathers dust in the corner. I head down, thinking about Serena sitting on a dirty mattress while a bunch of Serbian thugs make violent plans nearby. She’s got to be terrified—the poor fucking girl. I hate her for what she did to Claudia, but I know drugs can make people do fucked-up and stupid things, especially when they know better. She’s got my sympathy, but if I had my way, I’d raid the place and let the girl die.

Except that would hurt Claudia, and I won’t risk it.

“We both know waiting around won’t solve anything.” Davide follows me downstairs. His low voice bounces off the walls. “You’re being too cautious.”

“I know that.” I don’t look back over my shoulder. “But Claudia’s too important to me, and Serena’s too important to her.”

“We can’t sit around forever. Tommy’s going to slip past sooner or later, and then he’ll be totally gone. He’ll take the girl with him.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” I reach the bottom and turn toward the emergency exit that leads into an alley. We’re in an old apartment complex. Cigarettes litter the ground nearby. “I think I can smoke him out. If that happens, I think we can take them both.”

Davide doesn’t look convinced. “You love the girl, don’t you?”

I shake my head. “I don’t give a fuck about Serena.”

“Not her. Claudia. Even I can see it.”

I hesitate, letting that word roll around my head. Love. It’s not something I ever said before, much less felt, but the way I am with Claudia is entirely new. It could be love, or it could be something else. I don’t know what word would describe how I feel.

But I know I like it. I know I can’t live without it.

“All I know is, it’ll break her if Serena gets killed, which means I have to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Davide shrugs and crosses his arms. “There’s no shame in falling for her, you know.”

“I didn’t say there was.”

“You’re acting like it’s the worst thing in the world. Just admit you love her and we can plan accordingly. But this halfway thing you’re doing—” He waves a hand at me. “It won’t fly for much longer.”

I give him a hard look but don’t reply. I head outside and he doesn’t follow. I walk to my truck, frustrated and pissed off, and sink down into the driver’s seat.

Before I went to prison, my older brother Davide was like a robot. The guy was cold as ice and didn’t seem to have any actual emotions at all. Now, I catch glimpses of a deep reservoir of feeling in him. Ever since he met and fell for Stefania, it’s like an entirely new man woke up inside of his skin and is trying to fight his way to the surface.

Which is why it’s so strange that he knows more about love than I do.

It’s only a word, love. It’s just a sound. What I feel for Claudia is so much more than that. The way my house seems full and more alive than it ever had before. The way I think about seeing her when we’re not together, and the way I focus so completely on her when I’m around her. She makes everything else dim and fade away, and it’s a strange but exciting feeling, like she’s the center of my world.

Can I love her? Am I capable of loving another person that way?

I used to think no. But now I’m all tangled and twisted in her, and I don’t want to go back to the way things were. Not if that means being without her.

Chapter 39

Angelo

Cage feels quiet and empty when I head in through the front.

I don’t recognize the bouncer. He nods at me and doesn’t try to stop me though, which I think means he knows who I am. The interior is dim and there are a few customers hanging around, but it’s too early for the real party. It feels like there are half the girls milling about, and even the bar looks a little understaffed.

Rodrigo appears, looking harried, which is new for him. “Angelo, I’m happy you’re here. Your brother’s upstairs.”

I stop walking and try not to show my surprise. “Simon’s here?”

“Yes, and right now he’s sitting at the bar and having a drink.”

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